THE DALLES–CELILO PORTAGE; ITS HISTORY AND INFLUENCE[1]
By T. C. Elliott.
The year 1915 will mark in history the completion of the Panama Canal, by which two oceans are commercially joined together. It will also mark the completion of what is known as The Dalles-Celilo Canal by which a large portion of the Columbia River Basin is afforded open river connection with tide water. The dominant note sounded in honor of these great public enterprises is economic; but of equal interest to many is the historic note, the story of the past. It is the purpose of this narrative to pass in brief review the history of the famous Dalles and Falls of the Columbia River, and to note important instances of the retarding influence of these great obstructions to navigation during the various periods of dis- covery, exploration, trade, settlement and growth of what is now known as the Inland Empire of the States of Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
The Columbia River is between twelve hundred and thirteen hundred miles in length, from Columbia Lake in British Co- lumbia to Cape Disappointment at its mouth. It is the second river of the Continent of North America in average volume of water discharged, and the first in the magnificence of its scenery. It forms the western portion of the first trade route ever established across the Continent, Latin America ex- cepted. The existence of the Columbia River was recognized for several years before its formal discovery ; Jonathan Carver heard of it upon the plains of Minnesota in 1766-68 and Capt. Bruno Heceta observed and charted evidences of its mouth in 1775. It was actually discovered by Capt. Robert Gray, a fur trader from Boston, Mass., who sailed into it on May nth, 1792, and was re-entered in October, 1792, by Lieut. Broughton of the British Royal Navy, and by him explored as far inland as Point Vancouver, which is situated not far above
- ↑ The Historical Address at the "Formal Opening of the Dalles-Celilo Canal of the Columbia River," at Big Eddy, May 5, 1915.
